Reflecting back, I understood that my journey to Mount Bromo was never that of the ordinary traveler who climbs it merely to capture the greatness of the caldera. Nor had I journeyed there to get a glimpse of  a magnificent sunrise at dawn or drink in the fiery hues of a scarlet sky above the Penenjakan and Kingkong hills at dusk.

My journey had a greater meaning to it. The terrain surrounding the mountain was magical which perhaps was imparted to it by the mystical and ancient Tengger Tribe that thrives to this day have survived eons.  The Tengger were an ancient people having an ancient link to the great kingdom of Majapahit which boasts of its renowned spiritual dimension of Hinduism. The Beauty and Bleakness of Mount Bromo, is a bridge between Tenggerese and Sacred Mount…